11-year sentence and election ban deepen pressure on Yabloko

Russia’s Yabloko loses election appeal as deputy leader is jailed

11-year and one-month prison sentence for Yabloko deputy leader Lev Shlosberg came on the same day Russia’s top court rejected the anti-war party’s appeal against its exclusion from September’s parliamentary elections.

The Supreme Court’s Appeals Chamber upheld the removal of Yabloko’s federal list of State Duma candidates, leaving the only registered party calling for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war off the ballot, according to a statement confirmed by Yabloko on Monday.

What the courts decided

The election case was brought by Rodina, a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party. Rodina accused Yabloko of receiving Western backing and seeking to undermine the election process and Russia. Yabloko rejected those allegations and said it represented the views of millions of Russians.

Yabloko said it would seek a supervisory review of the Supreme Court ruling. Opposition activists described the ban as evidence of further erosion of democracy and an effort to silence opposition to the war in Ukraine.

Why Shlosberg was sentenced

A separate court found Shlosberg guilty of harming the reputation of Russia’s armed forces and lying about them. The conviction relied on legislation introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which allows lengthy prison terms for discrediting the military or deliberately spreading false information about the war.

In his closing speech, Shlosberg described the war as a catastrophe for Russia and said the full death toll would eventually be made public. The source material does not identify the court or specify whether the sentence has been appealed.

Supporters detained outside court

Police detained dozens of supporters and journalists who came to hear the court decision, taking some to nearby police stations. Kirill Goncharov, head of Yabloko’s Moscow branch, said there were many detainees and that police officers appeared nervous.

Yabloko leader Nikolay Rybakov called the detentions intimidation. The proceedings and Shlosberg’s sentence add to the restrictions facing groups that openly criticise Russia’s war in Ukraine.